• Old friends, new friends, afternoon rainshowers while I worked, and music. Always music. (Fun story: during Alex's second guitar class, above, her instructor, Mr. Leland, taught her the tiniest bit of a song -- but didn't tell her what song it is. Every week going forward, he's going to teach her another bit of the song, until eventually, she'll recognize what she's playing. Isn't that awesome? When I took my guitar lessons at her age, my teacher made me pick out Long, Long Ago for about 6 weeks straight. It was excruciating.

Needless to say, I didn't stick with it. But Alex? Alex is so determined to figure it out, not to mention she's already bestowed the compliment of "so swag" on Leland. So things are looking much better for her guitar career than mine.)